Carton

ABSTRACT

A carton is provided having multiple panels wherein at least a portion of the outer surface of at least one panel is printed with a soft feel material. This portion may be embossed, or may include the brand name and/or product logo.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a carton having a sensual feel. More particularly, the invention is directed to a carton in which at least part of the outer surface of the carton is covered with a coating that provides the covered portion with a sensual feel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cartons are widely used in various industries, including the consumer goods industry, for packaging various types of products. Cartons are used for primary packaging as well as secondary packaging (i.e. packaging which holds numerous packaged products are then bundled in secondary packaging for purposes of, for example, delivery or the selling of numerous packages together as one sale item). Such cartons are normally made of paper based materials such as paperboard. The outer surfaces are commonly printed with sales and product information. The printed carton may have a hard, clear varnish over the printing inks. While the printed information provides information to the consumer, it only conveys information based upon the design of the printing (e.g. product logo) or the data contained in the printing (e.g. marketing message, directions).

An object of the present invention is to provide a carton with printing that conveys a sensual feel to the consumer as the carton is handled.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, the present invention is directed to a carton having multiple panels wherein at least a portion of the outer surface of at least one panel is printed with a soft feel material. This portion may be embossed, or may include the brand name and/or product logo.

In a second aspect, the present invention is directed to a carton having multiple panels wherein the complete outer surface of each panel is printed with a soft feel material.

In a third aspect, the present invention is directed to a carton having multiple panels wherein at least one panel has an embossed motif which is printed with a soft feel material.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention is directed to a carton having multiple panels wherein at least one panel has a tab that is printed with a soft feel material.

The carton of the present invention has a sensual feel and gives a sensory appeal to the packaging. The carton provides the ability to promote the perception of a soft silky feel for products which provide such a feeling such as fabric softeners, skin care products, soaps as well as other personal care products. Such a perception may also be desired in other types of products such as food products or home decoration and home care products.

By soft feel material it is meant the property of the outermost layer of the material has a Shore A or Shore D hardness (ASTM D 2240) of from about 35 to about 80, more preferably from about 35 to about 70, and even more preferably from about 35 to about 60, and including all ranges subsumed therein.

All numerical ranges and percentages in this specification and claims are intended to be modified by the term about.

As used herein, the term “comprising” means that a specified material or element is present, optionally together with a further material or element, and includes including, made up of, composed of, consisting and/or consisting essentially of.

For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments and to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carton of the invention with a carton panel printed with a soft feel material in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a carton having multiple panels wherein at least a portion of the outer surface of at least one panel is printed with a soft feel material.

The term carton hereby should be understood generally as a container for any form of product which is made of a paper based material such as paperboard, which would include clay coated newsback (CCN) and solid bleached sulfite (SBS). The carton may also be made of plastic sheet as well.

The carton of the invention may be made by conventional techniques. The carton may be of any form or size suitable for storing, packaging, or dispensing its contents for its intended use.

The carton is made of multiple panels. Preferably the carton is of square or rectangular shape having six panels as is shown in FIG. 1.

The carton may also comprises an aperture or a portion of a panel that may be removed to form an aperture in order for product to be removed from the carton. In another embodiment, one or more panels of the carton may have a tab which is used to open the carton. This tab may be open an entire panel or may open a portion of a panel providing an aperture in order for product to be removed from the carton. Preferably, the carton has a tab as described above wherein the tab is printed with a soft feel material.

In another embodiment, the carton of the present invention has multiple panels wherein at least one panel has an embossed motif which is printed with a soft feel material. The embossed motif can include such indicia consisting of words and/or a logo, or a decorative design or novel product characteristic as well as any other motif one may desire to place on a carton.

Soft feel materials include without limitation, for example, cataloy polyolefins, thermoplastic olefin resins, thermoplastic elastomers which can be roller applied or gravure or offset-printing applied, silk touch type top lacquers and top varnishes such as 43829 Silk Touch Lacquer commercially available from SIPCA North America. Such soft feel materials are disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,503,619; 5,733,617; 5,250,343, 5,677,055; 5,585,193; 5,594,070; 5,151,309; 5,968,431, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0155283 A1, and EP 0 667 234 A1, the disclosures all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Soft feel materials are commercially available from numerous suppliers including, Basell Polyolefins Company N.V., Bayer, Advanced Elastomer Systems, Monsanto Company, Multi-Color Corporation, and Kraton. A preferred soft feel material is Adflex Q 302 B from Basell Polyolefins Company N.V.

Examples of suitable paints that provide a soft feel effect include paints with Orgasol additive which is commercially available from Atofina. Other suitable commercially available paints include Lanco PP1362D, PP1362SF, 1382LF, 1400SF, CP1481F, CP1481SF, PE1544F, A1601, A1602, D2S, HM1666, SM2003, Glidd 2312, Glidd 5118, Glidd 5575, Glidd 5618, LiquiMaft 5730, and LiquiMatt 6375 all commercially available from Lubrizol. E.l. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. also offers soft touch coatings/paint commercially available under the names VelvaShield and Aqua˜DekoSoft.

The soft feel material can be applied by conventional coating techniques. For example, in a preferred embodiment, a lacquer such as Silk Touch Lacquer 43829 commercially available from SIPCA North America is applied using gravure printing. Silk touch top varnish is applied by the offset printing process. The soft feel materials may be applied by other conventional coating techniques including, without limitation, screen printing, Thermage printing, and offset flexography.

In accordance with the invention, a soft feel material is printed on at least a portion of one panel of the carton. In another embodiment, the soft feel material may be printed on a tab of one of the panels.

The soft feel material on the carton may cover a portion of the outer surface of the carton or the entire outer surface of the carton. Preferably the soft feel material covers at least 30% of the outer surface of the carton. More preferably, the soft feel material covers at least 50% of the surface of the carton, more preferably at least 65%, and even more preferably at least 80%, and most preferably 100% of the surface of the carton, and including all ranges subsumed therein.

The soft feel material may be applied to any thickness desired. Preferably, the soft feel material is applied in an amount ranging from about 0.1 to about 8 pounds per thousand square feet, and more preferably from about 0.3 to about 5 pounds per thousand square feet, and even more preferably from about 0.5 to about 3 pounds per thousand square feet.

Preferably, the soft feel material is has sufficient clarity to allow full visibility of printed inks that may be under the applied soft feel material. Soft feel material having sufficient clarity would include soft feel material that is applied in an amount of 0.75 pounds per thousand square feet on the PBI-19 Optical Clarity Chart of the PBI-19-1979 Technical Bulletin entitled A Recommended Practice for Visual Evaluation of the Optical Clarity of Transparent Plastic Bottles issued by The Plastic Bottle Institute which is a division of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. and in which line 3 of the PBI-19-1979 optical clarity chart can be read in accordance with the PBI-19-1979 procedure. The testing sample should be prepared by applying the soft feel material to the chart by lab drawdown in amount of 0.75 pounds per thousand square feet and then following the Procedure in accordance with PBI-19-1979 as published by The Plastic Bottle Institute. Such soft feel materials that meet this clarity test are considered herein to be “clear”.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a carton 2 in accordance with the present invention wherein the carton has six panels 4 and an embossed logo 6 on one of the panels. On the panel 4 a having the embossed logo, the soft feel material is only on the embossed logo as indicated by crosshatching. Exemplifying other embodiments, on panel 4 b the soft feel material is covers the entire panel as indicated by crosshatching.

In another embodiment, the tab 8 on panel 4 c is covered with the soft feel material as indicated by crosshatching, while the remaining portion of panel 4 c is left free of the soft feel material.

The soft feel material may cover only certain parts of the carton, purposely leaving other parts bare in order to provide a greater distinction between the covered portion and uncovered portions thus making the covered portion standout as exemplified in the several embodiments described above. Of course, other embodiments covering either full panels or parts thereof may be considered and are intended to be included in the present invention.

The carton of the present invention may have any type of contents that are stored in cartons, including home and personal care products and food products. A preferred product for such cartons are fabric dryer sheets.

It should be understood of course that the specific forms of the invention herein illustrated and described are intended to be representative only as certain changes may be made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention. 

1. A carton having multiple panels wherein at least a portion of the outer surface of at least one panel is printed with a soft feel material.
 2. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 20% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 3. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 30% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 4. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 50% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 5. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 65% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 6. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 80% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 7. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material covers at least 100% of the outer surface of the carton panels.
 8. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material is applied in an amount ranging from about 0.1 to about 8 pounds per thousand square feet.
 9. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material is applied in an amount ranging from about 0.3 to about 5 pounds per thousand square feet.
 10. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material is applied in an amount ranging from about 0.5 to about 3 pounds per thousand square feet.
 11. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the carton has an embossed motif.
 12. A carton according to claim 11, wherein the embossed motif is covered with a soft feel material.
 13. A carton according to claim 1, wherein one of the panels of the carton has a tab.
 14. A carton according to claim 13, wherein the tab is covered with a soft feel material.
 15. A carton according to claim 1, wherein the soft feel material is clear.
 16. A carton according to claim 8, wherein the soft feel material is clear.
 17. A carton according to claim 11, wherein the soft feel material is clear. 